Power Relations in Conservation Discourse: The Production of Politically-informed Environmental Anthropology (Rimbo Gunawan)
POWER RELATIONS IN CONSERVATION DISCOURSE: The Production of Politically-informed Environmental
Anthropology
Rimbo Gunawan
Department of Anthropology and the Institute of Ecology, Padjadjaran University
e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRAK. Sebagai tanggapan atas laju kerusakan hutan yang semakin mengkhawatirkan, Pemerintah Indonesia menetapkan hutan-hutan yang tersisa menjadi kawasan lindung seperti taman nasional. Penetapan kawasan yang cukup luas seperti itu memberikan banyak implikasi pada peluang kehidupan masyarakat lokal di sekitar kawasan lindung tersebut. Salah satu kawasan lindung ini adalah Taman Nasional Gunung Halimun seluar 40.000 hektar yang terletak di kawasan Barat Daya Propinsi Jawa Barat tempat masyarakat adat, seperti Orang Kasepuhan, tinggal. Tidaklah mengherankan bila masyarakat menentang perubahan tersebut. Melalui kajian politik budaya (cultural politics), tulisan ini menegaskan bahwa bentuk-bentuk ekspresi budaya berkaitan dengan pengelolaan hutan secara sosial merupakan sesuatu yang penuh dengan pertentangan dan persaingan (contested): hutan merupakan contested resources— sebuah arena sosial tempat makna-makna dan praktek-praktek dibentuk melalui serangkaian proses interaksi. Tulisan ini memusatkan perhatian pada pertentangan dan persaingan antara masyarakat local dan negara, dengan menekankan isu-isu: (1) konsepsi dan praktik mengenai pengelolaan hutan baik bagi masyarakat lokal maupun bagi negara; (2) dinamika kuasa dalam kampanye pelestarian hutan yang mencakup proses pertentangan dan persaingan, dominasi, marginalisasi, negosiasi, dan perlawanan ketika berbagai konsepsi berbeda mengenai hutan bertemu dalam kehidupan sehari-hari.
Kata kunci: pelestarian hutan, politik budaya, relasi kuasa, masyarakat adat, dan negara
Power Relations in Conservation Discourse: The Production of Politically-informed Environmental Anthropology (Rimbo Gunawan)
ABSTRACT. In response to the alarming rate of deforestation, the Indonesian Government transforms much of its remaining forest into protected areas such as national parks. Setting aside such a huge tract of land has many implications for livelihood opportunities of the local people. One of these protected areas is the Gunung Halimun National Park, covering an area of 40,000 hectares, located in the Southwestern part of West Java where people, like the Kasepuhan live. It is not surprising that the people contest to this change. Seen through the lens of cultural politics, the paper asserts that cultural forms and expressions regarding forest management are socially contested: forest is a “contested resource,”—a social arena where meanings and practices are constructed through processes of interaction. The paper focuses on the contestations between the local people and the state, highlighting the issues: (1) the notion and practice of forest for both the local people and the state; (2) power dynamics in conservation campaign: including the process of contestations, domination, marginalization, negotiation, and resistance as different notions about the forest encountered in the day-to-day life.
Key words: forest conservation, cultural politics, power relation, indigenous people, and state
